Friday, July 11, 2014

On our final full day at the beach, we started out the day at Canova Beach again so Townes could enjoy the sand for one last day. We decided that we wouldn't stay as long though so we'd have more time to surf at the beach by the house. There were intense thunderstorms each night, but thankfully we had beautiful weather until 3-4 PM each day.

Townes played his heart out every day. He loves playing ball and digging for crabs. He loves the water too, but isn't a huge fan of getting where he can't stand or where the waves crash over him. We also have to be careful, because with his hound dog ways, he sniffs in so much sand!

After Townes was worn out, we headed back to the house and made a quick lunch before heading out to surf.

I actually got up on the board immediately! The waves were small and not as constant as we'd hoped (that's what we get for not going first thing in the morning I suppose), but we were able to surf for about 2 hours. Eventually the waves got too choppy and the storm was rolling in, so we called it a day. Now I just wish I could surf more often and get more practice!

After we came in and showered, we headed to dinner at this awesome organic restaurant in downtown Cocoa Beach called Green Room Cafe. It had the coolest environment with surfboards and skateboards everywhere and the food was incredible! I would eat there all the time if we were locals! I didn't even get to try their Acai bowls!

I had the a grilled J-Bay wrap with black beans, brown rice, zucchini, corn, banana peppers, and smoky tofu. They served all of their wraps and sandwiches with tortilla chips and amazing homemade salsa. It was all so good!

Since the original Ron Jon surf shop is in Cocoa Beach, we decided it was worth visiting. It's a HUGE yellow building with 2 floors and they even had a DJ and reggae band playing while we were there. I bought myself an awesome neon orange Ron Jon tank top - perfect for the summer!

On the last night, they were doing fireworks on Cocoa Beach, but since it was raining and Townes was terrified of the rain + firework combo, we decided to watch the fireworks from our balcony. It worked out perfectly, because the view was so good! Sadly this was the best photo we had...which isn't saying much!

On our last morning, we decided to go kayaking. Thankfully our rad hosts were fine with us checking out whenever we wanted on Sunday so it worked out great. We almost were late do the meeting place, because this old yellow Lab, named Hunter, followed us on our morning walk and we ended up having to drive him to his owner's house a few miles away! Crazy way to start the morning...

Once we arrived at the Cocoa Beach golf course, we signed some waivers and got in our single kayaks.

The tour guides were 2 awesome guys, Matt and Brandon, who were local surfers and really knowledgeable. We got to see some dolphins playing in the canals and then we even got to see a baby manatee! It made my day!

The tour took us through a bunch of black, red, and white mangroves which was so fun. Some parts were so narrow that you had to just pull your way through by the branches instead of using the oars.

Not a bad view hey?

After kayaking in the sun, it was time to head home. We picked up the pup and took him to a dog park on the way out of town to help wear him out. I think we were successful!

The drive home ended up being a nightmare - which I suppose you expect coming back from a holiday weekend. The weather kept changing rapidly and bringing on huge walls of rain that made it difficult to see.

At one point, two cars got into a fender bender in front of us and while we managed to stop in time, the people behind us didn't. It ended up being a 10+ car pile up on Highway 75! Thankfully we hadn't hit anyone and our damage was very minor (a few paint scratches) so after waiting for the cops to show up for an hour, we decided to leave since we still have 5+ hours to go until we were home. Thankfully we weren't hurt and we actually had the least amount of damage of all of the cars. We even passed about 4 other accidents within a mile of our crash site!

Maybe the dog karma helped us out! :)

That's all, folks!

A huge thank you to my sweet J for planning the whole trip and surprising me with an awesome weekend away. Number 1 from my birthday bucket list is now completed!